Whitman School, Grand Junction, Colorado 1925 4th Street and Ute Avenue Grand Junction Mesa Colorado 81501 USA The Whitman School was one of four schools built when a bond measure passed in 1925 and was named for Whitman Park across the street. According to oral history interviewee Susie Mendicelli, the neighborhood around Whitman Park had to fight for the school and for everything they got for the school. Miss Alridge was an early principal at the school, which was attended by elementary school students. Frank Simonetti Jr., who attended the school when it first opened, recalled that the school originally had four teachers, including Gladys Fleming, Grace Dove and Beth Majors. It taught grades 1 to 4 at that time. In 1958, students began attending the Hawthorne School. Whitman housed special education students until 1965, with a program employing four teachers and educating roughly sixty students. The school now belongs to the Museums of Western Colorado. * Information for some of this description comes from "In the Beginning… A History of the Districts and Schools that became Mesa County Valley School District Number 51." yes yes